Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XX Episode VI: Getting Prepared

A few hours later…

The first magic class of the day would begin. Among them included Sunset, Twilight, Adagio, Flash Sentry, Micro Chips, and…

“Rainbow Dash?” Sunset chuckled upon seeing her multi-colored friend take a seat at a desk. “What’re you doing here?”

“Meh,” she shrugged her shoulders as she folded herself in, and put her legs up on the desk, “I’m using this as a way to get away from Fluttershy’s sleazy brother. He’s been taking over music class with his ‘informative jazz’ routine and I want no part of it.”

“Sounds like someone’s in deniaaaaal-” Sunset teased with a snicker, eliciting a grumble from Dash.

“Rrrgh! Don’t mess with me like that!” she hissed with a balled fist at the ready.

“Hey, hey, I’m joking,” Sunset cleared up her stance, “I get why you’d wanna get away from him, honestly. He gives me bad vibes too.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, no kidding. But learning about magic is way more interesting than dealing with him.”

From nearby, Adagio would comment, “If it gets any worse, you could always file a restraining order against him. I had to do that once for Sonata.”

“Say whaaaaat?” Dash muttered with wide, horrified eyes, “Someone was legit stalking her??”

“Long story,” Adagio scoffed while looking at her nails. “I’ll tell you about it some other time.”

“By the way, do any of you know what happened to Spike?” Twilight changed the subject, “Last week I thought I was dreaming, but now he’s able to move around on two legs like a person! It’s wild, guys!”

Aidon looked up from his desk and decided to address it as a part of the first lesson. “Ahem. Well, I’m glad you asked--apparently it’s due to the Aether which has given your dog a new life as a wolfman. It seems to function rather indiscriminately, and hand out magic to whoever it deems most convenient.”

“Yup,” Sunset agreed, “That’s why there’s no real way to stop it. It’s like trying to rebuild a dam that’s already broken apart.”

“...Sorry about that,” Adagio muttered while rubbing her arm, “Never would I have predicted that so much trouble would be caused by us crossing over.”

“Well it wasn’t your fault. That’s the main thing you have to keep in mind,” Aidon assured her with his words, “For the moment, let’s begin the topic of how magic interacts with your bodies. Twilight? Care to assist me?”

“Affirmatively,” Twilight got up from her desk, and pulled out a pointer which she used to tap on a diagram of the human body on an easel she had brought with her. “Now. Long story short, Aether is present in every living creature, but we humans have more of it than anything else on earth. Now that Equestrian magic has started to manifest itself within us, we need to be more careful and avoid any potential…more selfish use of such power.”

Everyone in the room started taking notes for themselves.

Then, Flash would bring up a rather noteworthy question. “Uh--yeah. Question: What are the potential side effects of all this foreign power in our systems? Will we have a harder time dealing with it than you gals?” he asked in reference to Sunset and Twilight’s friend group.

“Don’t worry,” Aidon answered him, “We’re going outside to the soccer pitch to perform some testing.”

“Auch--finally!” Rainbow Dash rudely threw her arms into the air as she hopped out of her desk and stood up. “I’ll finally be able to start teaching you peeps how to use your magic! This school just got 20% less boring!” She folded her arms proudly, “I might even end up becoming captain of this little squad.”

“Hmmmm--Yeah--no,” Twilight interjected flatly with narrowed eyes as Adagio and Sunset could be heard giggling behind her. “That’s not gonna happen. I’m literally the one with the magical expertise here--” she adjusted her glasses and continued under her breath, “Not to mention a liiiittle bit ahead in the brains category.” She made a somewhat competitive glare at Micro Chips--

Which caused him to reach his hand beneath his glasses and grab the bridge of his nose. “I need to talk to her about this and put it to rest.”

Aidon cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Ahem. If you’ll all follow me outside, we’ll begin our first lesson. Get your gym clothes on and let’s go.”

As everyone got up to leave, Micro Chips stopped Twilight when the two were alone. “Hey, Twilight. Listen…”

“...I know what happened last week,” she replied under her breath as she folded her arms, “Spike brought my failsafe to you and you helped save everyone. Just what I was expecting of someone with an intelligence level similar to my own.”

He raised a brow. “...I don’t get it. You’re not annoyed at the fact that I was the one who had to help save everyone while you were incapacitated?”

“Oh no, I’m still miffed--” Twilight replied in a matter-of-fact fashion as she started walking out of the classroom, “At myself though. Not you. Never should’ve let my guard down…I’m smarter than that.”

Micro followed her and replied, “Well…I’ve learned a long time ago that no matter how smart you are, there’s always going to be something you miss. Best we can do is accept that we’re gonna fall short sometimes and look to others for help.” He pushed up his glasses. “So long as you can accept that, I think we’ll be fine going forward.”

“Yeah…you have a point,” Twilight sighed in response, “People always say intelligence is a ‘gift’ of some kind when they don’t realize how isolating it can feel.”

“You have a point--but hey, your friends have your back, and that’s what matters. Just…do me one small favor, please.”

“What’s that, MC?”

“...I’d like you try and keep a lid on the competitive aspect of our friendship if possible. I see you as a peer, not a rival. You get what I mean?”

Twilight looked down as she realized her spiteful nature towards Micro Chips had stemmed from the similar levels of intellect. In fact, it was due to that nature that she thought of him as a perfect failsafe for her nanotechnology in the first place.

“...Yeah. I get you, brother,” Twilight replied with her hands behind her back, “You did a good job out there, so you’ve more than earned my respect. I’ll try my best to keep things civil from now on.”

“Good to hear,” he replied with a satisfied smile, “Now let’s get going. With Summer coming, I want as much time for my research as possible--away from all of this.”

“Pfft,” Twilight scoffed in disbelief--there was no way they’d catch a break that easily. “You and me both.”